14 Amazing Literary Research Tools

NOVEL (Twanyne Author Series):

This is a virtual library provided for public use by the New York State Library and is accessable for all residents of New York City. To use the system, you would have to enter a library card number from one of the library systems located in New York City or be a subscriber of institutions or schools that participate in the program. It has a wide collection of library research material and books made available to users virtually.

African American Women Writers of the 19th Century:

This website focuses on African American women who made literary and cultural contribution to the African American society during the 19^th century. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture has a collection of about 52 different books or literary works that were published in a period where freed African Americans were being introduced into mainstream American literary world. Works include Phillis Wheatly (1773), Ann Plato (1841), Harriet Wilson (1859) and many others.

Literary Encyclopedia: Literature in English Around the World:

The Literary Encyclopedia is a vast database that is only available to subscribers unless your school or library is already a subscriber, then you need to get a access code. It has global literary reference work from over 2000 universities, countless amounts of authoritative authors and over ridiculous amount of books and resources written in English, French, German, Russian, Italian, Spanish, Latin, Greek and every other country, genre or time period you can image. So yes, it is a great resource but you will have to pay $19.99 to use for a whole year.

Internet Public Library: Literary Criticism:

The Internet Public Library or IPL contains vast amounts of criticisms about the lives and works of various authors from multiple nationalities, titles and time periods. Now only does it show you western authors and literature, but it also offers criticisms on Eastern Literature such as Indian authors and books, African and Middle Eastern literary works.

Literary History:

Academic, scholarly, and critical articles on British poets, novelists, playwrights, essayists, and biographers of the twentieth century, nineteenth century, and eighteenth century; and on American poets, novelists, playwrights, and essayists of the twentieth century and nineteenth century. All articles are open access and free.

Literary Resources on the Net:

Maintained by a so-called Jack Lynch of Rutgers, this website offers a wide array of articles and journals as well as biblical, theory and British literature. The site is free for all to access and neatly breaks down all of its resources into categories you can easily navigate through.

Celebration of Women Writers:

This website offers only literary works written by women throughout history and includes all races, time periods and nationalities. The site includes books, poems, letters, religious commentaries, economic and scientific works for the only reason of celebrating women’s success in the world of literature.

Glossary of Literary Criticism:

The site offers various terms from A-Z and how various authors defined, used or incorporated those terms into their literary work. The site also keeps a good bibliography of various quotes and sources so if you write the author into your research paper, you can cite the source easily.

Christian Classics:

Known as Christian Classics Ethereal Library or CCEL, the site keeps various literary works by Christian authors and or topics dealing with Christianity. The writings include Protestant denominations, Catholic and Orthodox churches and various other faith based community works or theological discourse about Christianity.

Glossary of Poetic Terms:

The site has thousands upon thousands of terminology and terms used in poems and many literary key words. The site is a nice guide on literary vocabulary and offers links to Poets, poems and their criticisms.

The Literature Network: Virginia Woolf:

Virginia Woolf is an English author from 1882 to 1941 and died by drowning herself in a local river. But during her lifetime, she wrote numerous works that still draw countless fans to celebrate her birthdays, life and works. The site offers over 2800 books, articles and journals written by Woolf or her fans.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman:

The site offers numerous works by Perkins before she died and commentary by scholars and students on her works. This is a good resource for anyone writing any articles on the Yellow Wallpaper or other curious works she had written.

Contemporary Literary Criticism/Contemporary Authors:

You can access Gale Databases through this link and it is a powerful resource used by libraries to go through periodicals, reference materials and primary sources. Most libraries, schools, universities and institutions have access to this database and you can get the login information from with no cost or extra fees.

LITFINDER:

Another resource like the gale database, it has vast resources and databases for literary works and their criticisms. The site also includes a citation generator for various formats like MLA. You would need to contact your institution